Creating a New Life in a New Country

Evolving Expat Dream

After eight years, our dreams for the future are evolving into something completely different. We discovered this while camping in Huequecura. Sitting along the bank, watching the river gurgle past rocks and boulders, with hawks and white storks decorating the sky against the backdrop of a hillside, we realized that it wasn’t the beach life that we craved, but the gentle solitude of the countryside. The life that we were living while camping was just what our souls were longing for every weekend. Mostly, we realized that we needed the fresh air, nature and space around us to counter the weariness of living a city life.

As far as city life goes, Concepcion has been good for us. Our apartment looks over a residential neighborhood, and from our balconies, we have both views of the hillside and ever-upward growing city. The university is only two blocks away, and even the major supermarkets, bakeries, pharmacies and mall are within easy walking distance. There are weeks when the car never leaves its parking spot. Nevertheless, this past summer, we have felt suffocated every time we returned home from camp. It feels impossible to breathe, living with people above, below and to either side of us.

Several years ago, we had purchased a site that has a view of the Pacific Ocean. As part of a private, gated community, with a semi-private beach (all of Chilean coastline is public by law, but some areas restrict car entrances to only residents,; non-residents enter by foot only, unless visiting residents), it seemed like the safe solution, and had amenities that we thought would add to our quality of life there. Also, the land was up on the hill, away from any potential ravages of future tsunamis. However, we could never seem to settle on the right house plan.

It took spending the past New Year’s in a rented house there with family, and a change in the law that prohibited dogs on the beach…. strangely smokers, the real beach pollutants, are allowed,… to realize that our site with the beautiful view just wasn’t for us. It was a dream that most in the U.S. would have given almost everything for, the kind of view that is usually only available to the extremely rich. However, it just wasn’t nourishing our souls.

So, we are on a new quest, fueled by new dreams of what our Chilean life could be. A while back, with a dear friend, we had looked at 30 hectares with two houses, as a reasonable price, but had passed because we already had what we thought we wanted. Now, we realize that it would have provided the space we needed to build our small dream house and garden. With that in mind, I am once again scouring the internet for the right land at the right price.. However, this time instead of asking God to provide that piece of land at our chosen price, which He had gratefully and graciously done with Pingueral, I am turning the decision of what our future should be to Him. This time, instead of fighting against guidance and pushing what for what we want, we are going to rely solely on Him to guide us to the right new land and home.